Rodent's return: Red-crested tree rat reappears after 113 years

A red-crested tree rat, a rodent about the size of a guinea pig,
has been sighted for the first time in decades. The relatively
unknown creature made a casual reappearance in a Columbian Nature
reserve after over a century, and even stayed around for a
photoshoot.

Volunteers at the El
Dorado Nature Reserve in the Sierra Nevada were overjoyed to
receive an evening visit from the red-crested tree rat. It was last
recorded sighted in 1898, when two of the critters were found and
studied, and were subsequently the source of all information
about the rat, until now.

Spotted by two volunteers working at the reserve, the rat's
reapperance has been credited to the work being done by Fundacion
ProAves, a conservation
organisation founded in 1998 to save endangered species in
Columbia. The charity buys forested properties which are on the
brink of being destroyed, despite being known to be important for
endangered wildlife, and monitors a number of rare species. It's
pretty handy, therefore, that the red-crested tree rat chose this
reserve, founded in 2005, to say hello to.

Despite its miraculous appearance, the rat, also known as the
red crested soft-furred spiny-rat, seemed fairly relaxed about
making history. Lizzie Noble, a volunteer from Britain, had been at
the reserve for just a month when she witnessed the creature: "He
just shuffled up the handrail near where we were sitting and seemed
totally unperturbed by all the excitement he was causing. We are
absolutely delighted to have rediscovered such a wonderful creature
[...] Clearly the El Dorado Reserve has many more exciting
discoveries waiting," she said in a ProAves
press release.

The red-crested tree rat is thought to now be listed as
critically endangered under the International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN)'s "Red List of Threatened Species" criteria.

While it's a shame he didn't bring a few buddies with him, it's
still undoubtedly a step up from existing solely as a species "that
was only talked about in science journals", as George Fenwick,
President of American Bird Conservancy, puts it.

Edited by Duncan Geere

Comments

Colombian*

hk

May 18th 2011

hk beat me to it. I know that sometimes there are differences in spelling between Grate Brittin and the other side of the Atlantic, but in this case it would probably be preferable to go with the spelling preferred by the country of Colombia.